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Sex predator’s release in GJ subject of broadcast Tuesday

The release of a state-labeled sexually violent predator in Grand Junction will be the focus of a television broadcast next week, police said Thursday.

Police declined to release the man’s identity until they provide the information at 8 a.m. Tuesday on Mesa County’s cable-access channel, which is Channel 12 on Bresnan cable.

The message will be repeated at 11 a.m., 4 p.m. and 7 p.m.

“We weren’t getting enough attendance to justify continuing doing it the way we had been,” police spokeswoman Kate Porras said.

Since January 2007, police hosted meetings at Grand Junction City Hall and broadcast those meetings live on Channel 12 when sexually violent predators were released into the community.

State law requires community notification when sexually violent predators — they are labeled as such by state judges — move in after their release from state prison or county jails.

The subject of Tuesday’s broadcast will reside at Mesa County Community Corrections, 650 South Ave. Porras said 650 notification letters were mailed to residents in a roughly quarter-mile radius in lower downtown.

“You can expect to hear more about his offenses, why he’s (a sexually violent predator) and more about SVP’s in general,” she said.

Some 237 sex offenders are registered as living inside Grand Junction’s city limits.